[Mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells in peripheral blood by leukapheresis]

To improve the separation results of peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC), cytokines (GM-CSF, G-CSF or IL3) can be administered to patients. The most important prerequisites for successful PBSC separation are daily monitoring of CD-34-positive cells to determine the separation days and the use of optimized separation programs. To improve the performance of the cell separation, we increased the process volume to more than patients' blood volume and obtained increased MNC and CFU recoveries. In most cases, we collected more cells than the preseparation number of circulating cells. We therefore conclude that large-volume PBSC separation itself mobilizes hematopoietic progenitor cells.